Modi govt’s latest crusade against Mamata Banerjee will end up alienating bureaucracy, catalyse opposition

Unable to take TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee head on, PM Narendra Modi is resorting to tactics of attacking her from behind. This is certainly not the characteristic of a warrior, as Modi is often projected to be by his supporters and party colleagues.

The show cause notice to former West Bengal Chief Secretary and now Chief Advisor to CM, Alapan Bandopadhyay, sent by the Union Home Ministry charges him of not attending a review meeting to assess damages caused by cyclone Yaas. The notice has been served under Section 51 of the Act that specifies “whoever without reasonable cause refused to comply with any direction given by or on behalf of the Central government or the state government or the National Executive Committee or the State Executive committee, shall on conviction be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and a fine or with both”.

The letter to Alapan reads: “By abstaining himself from the review meeting taken by the Prime Minister who is also the chairman of National Disaster Management Authority in the aftermath of cyclone Yaas as part of his visit to the cyclone affected areas in the state of West Bengal, Alapan Bandyopadhyay, chief secretary, government of West Bengal, has acted in a manner tantamount to refusing to comply with lawful directives of the central government and is thus violative of section 51 (b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005”.

But using Bandyopadhyay as a scapegoat in such a manner would not augur well for Modi govt. It would be a tough proposition for the bureaucrats acting at the behest of Modi to substantiate their action. Pushed by Modi to the extreme, Bandyopadhyay would move a high court or the Supreme Court if any action is taken by the Centre or any other authority.

In a significant development, the secular, liberal, left and democratic forces have started the process of coming to a single platform. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has already made such an appeal. Mamata has also expressed same sentiments. She appealed to civil society across the nation, all state governments led by the opposition, NGOs, and the bureaucracy to stand together and fight, as this was not just about an Alapan.

She said: “This battle is for all bureaucracy…. Only the two-member (Modi and Shah) syndicate, that is the law? Even if they go to court, the court will also not give support as far as my knowledge as a lawyer goes,” she said.

A group of ex-servicemen, bureaucrats and some top political leaders are reported to in the process to meet the Congress and leaders of CPI and CPI(M) to build a popular sentiment.

Modi has been treading on a most volatile path and this will not only endanger the federal structure but turn the political system irrelevant. It may well incite the people of Bengal to come to the streets and raise their voice against him and BJP-RSS.

It is said that a senior officer who was accompanying Modi had argued against this course of action against Bandyopadhyay. But sources said that the state’s Governor Jagdeep Dhankar prevailed upon him. The bureaucrats who have been keen to serve the wishes of Modi ought to realise that Bandyopadhyay was to attend the meeting along with his boss, the chief minister. The meeting was scheduled between the PM and CM. These bureaucrats may well infer that this act also applies on Bandyopadhyay, but their argument has many loops and holes.

Dhankar also continued taking jibes against Mamata. On Tuesday he said, “Ego prevailed over public service".

Astonishingly, he has claimed that Mamata Banerjee had called him before the meeting at Kalaikunda and indicated that she won't attend it if Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari was present in it. In reality, it would be highly unlikely that Mamata would choose to confide in a person who has been systematically trying to vilify her.

In her letter to Modi on Monday, Mamata had written, "I wanted to have a quiet word with you, a meeting between the PM and the CM as usual. You, however, revised the structure of the meeting to include a local MLA from your party and I am of the view that he had no locus to be present in a PM-CM meeting."

Mamata also revealed that she could have prevented Alapan Bandyopadhyay from retiring. “But I did not force him; after he said he would like to retire on schedule, today, I permitted him. I allowed him to be the chief adviser to the chief minister --- he will start his work from tomorrow – for three years, not three months…. Bengal doesn’t know defeat. It is our moral victory, we never bowed our heads.”

There is little doubt that the Alapan Bandyopadhyay episode is yet another great blunder by the Centre in its efforts to bulldoze state governments and the federal structure of the nation.

Mamata said, “It’s really a danger for the country… they are damaging the morale of the bureaucrats throughout the country…. Are bureaucrats their bonded labour? They are not”.

Amidst this scenario, the silence of many state BJP leaders has been causing deep concern to the party leadership. Even senior state leaders excepting Subhendu Adhikari and state president Dilip Ghosh are not happy at the turn of developments. A majority of senior leaders reportedly feel that the central leaders are carrying forward the mistakes of the Assembly poll campaign and continue to overlook the sentiment of people of Bengal.

The entire incident is being seen as proof of the ever-widening rift between the national and state leaders in the saffron camp.

These leaders also point out that this will alienate the bureaucracy and in future the state leaders cannot aspire to get their help and sympathy. These leaders nurse the view that any action against Alapan Bandyopadhyay would lead to people boycotting them and resorting to a movement.

A senior state BJP leader said: “There is no doubt that Alapan is a decorated officer. What is being done to him is tantamount to harassment and citizens of the state aren’t taking it well.” While he blamed the turncoat Subhendu Adhikari for creation of the crisis, he said: “If the central leadership had discussed with us before going all out against Alapan, we would have advised against it.”

(IPA service)

Views are personal